Jewelry cases



Feb. 16, 1960 J. SHIFFMAN 2,925,191

JEWELRY CASES Filed March 16, 1959 uuuuuuug fiuuwuluu rams Jig/Fm United States Patent JEWELRY CASES Jerome Shifiman, New York, N .Y. Application March 16, 1959, Serial No. 799,490 2 Claims. (Cl. 220-31) This invention relates to cases or containers especially adapted for containing articles of jewelry, and has particular reference to containers which can be fabricated from plastic materials; which can be economically made and which will present an attractive appearance.

It is an object of the invention to provide a container of this character which will have a relatively stiff and substantially rigid box portion in which the articles to be contained or displayed will be held, and which will be provided with closure means in the form of flexible, foldable overlapping flaps forming, despite their flexibility, integral extensions of the rigid side walls of the box.

.It is an object of the invention to provide, in a container of the above-mentioned kind, a novel hinge connection between the flexible flaps and the rigid walls of which the flaps constitute integral extensions, such hinge connection consisting of spaced, integral strips or tongues of foldable nature, permitting them to be repeatedly folded or doubled upon themselves without fracture, thus enabling them to form flexible hinge connections between the closure flaps of the container and the walls from which such flaps integrally extend.

With these and other objects to be hereinafter set forth in view, -I have devised the arrangement of parts to be described and more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawing, in which an illustrative embodiment of the invention is disclosed,

Pig. 1 is a front elevational view of a case or container constructed in accordance with the invention,

7 and with the closure flaps thereof in closed position;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view, taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows (but with the closure flaps in open position);

Fig. 3 is a plan View, on a reduced scale, of the container in open position;

Fig. 4 is a detail view to clearly show the strip or tongue connection between the flaps and walls of the box portion, and

Pig. 5 is a sectional view, taken substantially on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4, looking in the direction of the arrows.

The improved case or container is primarily, although not necessarily, adapted for holding small articles, such as pieces of jewelry and numerous other articles and is preferably Wholly composed of plastic material. It includes a relatively shallow box portion in which the goods are contained, said box portion having a bottom wall 1, end walls 2 and side walls 3, all of these parts being integrally connected and composed of relatively hard and stiff plastic so that the box portion is in the form of a rigid structure;

A liner is contained within the box portion and the.

same may be of any known form as used in jewelry boxes, and as shown it is composed of a base layer 5,

such as cardboard or other inexpensive. sheet material,

having a facing- 4 of fabric such as velvet or plush arranged over it. The bottom wall of the box has its upper face covered by the liner on which the displayed article is rested or to which it can be attached.

The box portion of the container has its top closed by overlapping flaps which are indicated respectively at 6, 7, 8 and 9. The two similar flaps shown at6 and 7 are the side flaps and in their closed position they underlie the outer or top flaps 8 and 9 as seen in Fig. 1. The flap 9 is adapted, when in its closed position, to overlap the flap 8, and means for detachably uniting the overlapped flaps 8 and 9 to maintain them in the closed position of Fig. 1, consists in the aperture 10 provided in the flap 8 and into which a stud 11, integrally formed on the inner side of the flap 9 is adapted to enter. The stud 11 is slightly tapered, as seen in Fig. 2 and it thus enters the aperture 10 with a snap fit and will remain therein until force is employed to withdraw it from the aperture.

A feature of the invention resides in the fact that all of the flaps 6, 7, 8 and 9 while forming integral extensions or continuations of the walls 2 and 3 of the box portion of the container, are of relatively thin and flexible plastic material. In order to provide hinging flexibility for each of the flaps 6, 7, 8 and 9, each of said flaps is formed with a row or line of apertures 12, thus resulting in the formation of a plurality of narrow flexible strips or tongues 13 between them. The flexibility of these strips or tongues 13 is such that they can be repeatedly folded or doubled upon themselves without breakage, thus enabling them to form a flexible hinge connection between each of the tongues and the rigid box wall from which it integrally extends. Each row of strips or tongues 13 is thus provided in the base area of each flap, or at the point where the flap is connected to the top of the box wall of which it is an extension. Due to the flexibility of the strips or tongues 13, a free hinge connection is thus established between each flap and its connected wall. What is thus provided is a rigid box structure having closure means formed of flexibile, overlapping flaps joined to the walls of the box structure by narrow tongues or strips, with the walls of the box, the flexible flaps and the connecting strips or tongues all integrally joined. As a result, the container may be made economically of plastic material.

In Fig. 3 the container is shown in fully open position, wherein the liner is fully exposed and any jewelry contained in the case will be displayed. To close the container, the flaps are folded on the tongues or strips 13 to bring the flaps into the overlapping positions shown in Fig. 1 and the stud 11 snapped into the aperture 10.

While the container herein shown is disclosed as being substantially rectangular in form, it will be apparent that it can be made in various other shapes, and the closure flaps and the body of the box embossed or otherwise shaped, decorated or embellished as desired.

Having described a single embodiment of the invention, it is obvious that the same is not to be restricted thereto, but is broad enough to cover all structures coming within the scope of the annexed claims.

What I claim is:

1. A container comprising a box wholly composed of plastic material and having stiff and rigid side walls, each them; I

ti'ansversely and i'epeatedly foldable to define a fieiihle I fiefei'enc Cited in the iile o f this I hingefllinevacross themon whichmthe flap can be re- UNITED STATES PATENTS peateclly folded to open or closed position.

2. A container as provided for in claim 1 wherein each 2'460870 Bruckhause g 1 :Of the-flaps is of-nniform thicknesyflr'or'n itspoinflof 6 2662637 Armbruster 1 9 3 -'joind'ei'to the sidewall on which it is formed fand its fold-linc flexibility is provided solely bythe' formation FOREIGN PATENTS of the apertures and the narrow-flexible tongues between 591,782 Great Britain; Aug. 28, 1947 1,117,630 France Feb. 27, 1956 

